10 Times Steely Dan Completely Ran Out Of F**ks To Give
9. When Walter Becker Lived On An Avocado Farm In Maui
During the group's breakup between their 1980 album, "Gaucho," and their 2000 comeback, "Two Against Nature," Walter Becker lived a life of semi-retirement, and he chose to spend it in a pretty interesting way. Becker moved to Maui and got away from it all. To pass the time there, he ran a small studio and found a second career: avocado farmer. Becker and Fagen, it seems, nearly always remained on friendly and professional terms. Both men released solo studio albums while broken up Fagen more prolifically than Becker, who was presumably absorbed in his laid-back Hawaiian lifestyle. But he still found time, between shifts in the avocado field, to produce Fagens 1991 album Kamikiriad in Maui. Incidentally, these gourmet retirements seem common among rock stars. Maynard James Keenan of Tool has his own line of wine and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull owns a salmon farm.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
